Musicnotes, Inc. announced today that with its September quarter royalty payments the company has passed the $1 million mark in digital royalties paid to music publishers and the songwriters they represent. Musicnotes started sending royalty checks to publishers in 2000, but the bulk of royalties have been paid in 2003 and 2004.

"The digital sheet music market is growing rapidly as consumer awareness builds," stated Musicnotes' Chairman, Tim Reiland. "We have sold over 600,000 downloads since mid-2000 and should sell over 300,000 downloads in 2004 alone. Although these numbers are smaller than the audio market, our average selling price per download is $4-5, approximately five times the price point of a digital audio download."

"We offer generous royalty payments to publishers and songwriters," said Musicnotes' CEO Kathleen Marsh. "To borrow a phrase from a recent article in Wired Magazine, we believe Musicnotes is a quintessential 'Long Tail' on-line business, and we believe the ultimate market size for sheet music is some multiple of the current $1 billion worldwide market. Publishers and songwriters who have embraced our business model are starting to receive meaningful royalty checks. We expect this to grow rapidly in the quarters and years ahead."